Sunday, March 01, 2015

Bertone: I knew of Benedict's plan to resign seven months in advance

The news you may have missed: reported in the Catholic Herald (February 19, 2015):

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, former Vatican Secretary of State, has said he knew Benedict XVI was planning to resign “at least seven months” in advance – and that it was “not at all easy” to keep it a secret.

The cardinal made the revelation in a candid interview in which he offered a staunch defence of his record and his lifestyle – much criticised in the Italian press – since stepping down.

Asked if he was surprised by Benedict XVI’s resignation, the cardinal said: “I had guessed it, but put it out my thoughts. I knew long in advance, at least seven months before. And I had many doubts. We debated the topic at length after it seemed already decided. I told him: Holy Father, you must bestow upon us the third volume on Jesus of Nazareth and the encyclical of faith, before you sign things over to Pope Francis.”

The cardinal added that it was “not at all easy to keep this secret. The pope meditated and reflected deeply with God about this choice.”

Dear Lynne. No, that is not the case. When Bill O'Reilly saw those nuns gunned-down in El Salvador, the ghost of one of them appeared to Bill in his sleep and prophesied: A man not too far from here will one day be elected pope after a German abdicates.

And we know that is true because O'Reilly told that story to Brian Williams who wrote that quote down and secreted it inside a Funk and Wagnall''s Brand Mayonnaise Jar inside Al Capone's vault where it was discovered by Geraldo Rivera and which quote was revealed to Richard Nixon by David Frost during a commercial break of those famous Nixon Presidency interviews.